Education, Careers & Continuous Education

Education and careers are topics that affect everybody be you a student, parent, teacher, employer or union leader, researcher or professional including those in the teaching institutions, the authorities, or the government and the man in the street.

Everybody has been educated in one form or another, be he a medical doctor, a trained professional plumber or an IT specialist. Their income and social status may differ but everyone can be very happy in what they do. Many claim to be experts on areas they have personally worked in, or have experience in.

With the different background, different needs and expectations there are bound to be different views on how things should be done or done better, especially when they have to pay for the cost of getting their education. The debate on how to educate one self or others will always be a hot issue for many depending on the position you find yourself in.

Clashes between the interested parties in priorities and approaches, especially between the students and the authorities, the unions and the employers, and even between parents and children are not uncommon in many countries. How did we get into this position at times and how do we minimize or avoid future clashes like these for our own good and the good of our society, is a constant challenge to us all.

I have been through many of the positions mentioned above and can share with you what it is like to be in some of these positions and the responsibilities we carry. What are the questions that are normally asked and the answers that are commonly given?

This depends on your position whether you are a pupil, parent, teacher, professional, or authority or a common citizen of your society. What you expect in the form of money and status, job security etc for what you can give and what the employer or clients want in return. These include your paper qualifications, capabilities to produce results and your attitude towards your work, the mission of your company or organization and your fellow colleagues.

As we are born in different times under different circumstances our needs and expectations must be different. Nevertheless there are certain common factors that still remain constant like why do you have to educate yourself, in what areas, what are you looking for, and how are you to get what you want. If some of these questions can be answered realistically and sensibly by yourself a lot of problems can be resolved. I believe that most of the time the solutions rest with ourselves.

Instead of writing a long essay on this very complex subject I will try to share with you some of my personal experiences in the various positions I held and I went through in my life which have also affected the lives of others. For ease of reading they will be presented in separate articles with me as a student, a parent, a professional and an authority in charge of the application of science and technology in our manpower development and in the building up of some of the sectors of our economy.

Many people have touched my life and in return I have also touched the lives of many people. I hope this has been for the better under the circumstances we have to work in our days.

Lee Kum Tatt